Halls of confusion

With work on Lawrence High expected to take weeks, hundreds of students are relocated

Posted
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 2:10 pm

Teacher schedules are taped to the walls of the middle school to help direct instructors to their assignments.

Jeffrey Bessen/Herald

Office space is being converted into classrooms at the middle school to accommodate the increased student population due to the relocation plan.

Jeffrey Bessen/Herald

Teachers and classes are sharing Lawrence Middle School classrooms while high school students attend the middle school.

Jeffrey Bessen/Herald

High school attending the middle school under the Lawrence School District's relocation plan after the high school was closed for eight weeks.

Donovan Berthoud/Herald

Lawrence High School students entered the middle school last Thursday after the high school was closed for Hurricane Sandy-related repairs.

Donovan Berthoud/Herald

By Jeff Bessen

Concern and confusion were the most common reactions during the first week of a district-wide relocation after Lawrence High School closed on Jan. 16 due to damage to its electrical system caused by Hurricane Sandy. District officials say the repair work may take as long as eight weeks (see “Repairing the high school’s electrical system,” page 3). The shutdown of the school, at 2 Reilly Road in Cedarhurst, has forced 975 high school students to attend the middle school, and 400 fifth- and sixth-graders from the middle school have been moved to the Number Five and Number Two elementary schools, respectively. The fifth- and sixth-graders are first bused to the middle school, and then to the elementary schools. They return to the middle school to be bused home. Seventh- and eight-graders remain in the middle school. The displaced high school students are using the second floor of the middle school. “It was confusing at first because we didn’t know what classes to go to, and we have to get used to the middle school again,” said Ludwing Velasquez, a high school senior. “The hallways were so crowded, and almost impossible to get through. It took 10 minutes to get through.” Velasquez takes a math class during his lunch period, and he said it’s hard to be on time. “I grab lunch in between classes and eat in math class,” he explained, “but I’ve been late because it takes forever to get through the lunch line and to class on time.” High school students who drive to school may drive to the Lawrence Yacht and Country Club and be bused to the middle school from there. The district can apply for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, school officials said. High school midterm exams were canceled, said Lawrence District Superintendent Gary Schall. “The advantage is that that testing time will be used for instruction,” he said. “There will be unit tests instead of cumulative tests.”

Sid Tanenbaum, who lived in Woodmere and owned a metal-stamping shop in Far Rockaway, where he was known more for his charitable ways than his two-handed set shot, has been honored for the past 30 years with a basketball tournament that raises scholarship money for students in the Five Towns.